Monday, July 20, 2015

Last Saturday my mom and my sisters threw me the most amazing baby shower fiesta. The party almost feels like a dream - such beautiful decorations, yummy food and the best company a girl could ask for! I felt so blessed to have so many friends, neighbors and family members there and I received so many wonderful gifts for baby boy Booth. James keeps saying that he is one spoiled little boy!

For the past two years I've been waiting for some excuse to throw a fiesta themed party. I even created a Pinterest board and had been collecting ideas. So when my sisters asked me what party theme I wanted for the baby shower I knew instantly that I wanted to have a fiesta. Luckily they loved the idea and ran with it. The party was everything I dreamed it could be and more and I can't wait to share all of the pretty details!

THE PARTY DECORATIONS //

GIANT FIESTA FLOWERS

You can't have a fiesta without bright, colorful, oversized flowers! These giant paper flowers really made a loud statement and helped bring all of the decorations together. The key is to use bright colored paper and to hang them against a white backdrop to make the colors pop. We kept all of the banners and signs neutral and let the flowers speak for themselves. We also didn't worry about making each flower perfect and freehanded each one. I think that is my favorite part - that each flower looks different and unique. If you want to recreate these, just embrace the imperfections and have fun with different paper, pedal shapes, sizes, and arrangements. I was inspired by this tutorial.

FIESTA PRINATBLES

One of my favorite parts about throwing a party is designing the signs and framed art. I couldn't help myself and designed a few different printables for my baby shower. (I know, I know.) My sisters used all of the artwork and incorporated it throughout the party. I loved how the designs tied everything together and worked so well with the other decorations. My sisters used the graphics on all of the signage, labels, games, and handouts.

PAPEL PICADO INSPIRED BANNER

I love the look of traditional papel picado banners but wanted banners that fit in with the baby shower colors and designs. So we took the artwork designed for the party signs and turned them into cute party bunting.

MEXICAN CAMBAYA FABRIC

We found this beautiful Mexican Cambaya fabric online. I loved the bright colors and knew that it would work perfectly on all of the buffet tables. My mom hemmed the fabric and added the cute pom pom trimming. I loved the way it turned out and all of the colors it brought to the party.

OUTDOOR DECOR

Sometimes it is easy to forget about decorating the entrance of a party or including some type of outdoor decoration for guests. I always like to include a welcome sign so guests know that they don't have to knock and that they can come on in! Outdoor decoration also helps distinguish where the party location is - especially for those who are arriving to the location for their first time. A cute simple banner over the door or a fun decorative sign that you place out front is a great way to welcome all of the party people.

THE PARTY FOOD //

AGUA FRESCA | DRINK STATION

We set up the drink station on the kitchen island and provided a variety of ice cold Jarritos soda bottles. The drinks were yummy and colorful - I think my favorite was the guava! We also had fruit infused water in a drink dispenser served in cute vintage milk bottles.

TACO BOUT A PARTY

You also can't have a fiesta without a taco stand! The food table had all the toppings you could think of for yummy chicken tacos. We got the corn taco shells and black beans from Cafe Rio, the churros from Costco, and my mom made her famous sweet rice. I also loved the colorful paper plates, utensils, and napkins. Swoon.

CHIPS AND SALSA BAR

Fiesta like there's no mañana! We of course had to have a chips and salsa bar with pico de gallo, mango salsa, guacamole, and cowboy caviar. We made cute individual chip bags with an assortment of tortilla chips - white and yellow corn Santitas, blue corn Tostitos, and guacamole flavored tortilla chips.

THE PARTY GAMES //

CAPTION THE PHOTO

My sisters are so talented and came up with the best baby shower games. They set up this adorable "Caption the Photo" game and hung baby pictures of me and James. Similar to the game "Apples to Apples", party guests picked two caption cards and selected a photo that they thought fit the best. The game ended up being hilarious and I had a hard time picking a winner for each caption.

BABY SHOWER QUIZ

My sisters also put together a fun baby shower quiz. It made for some great stories where I had to explain why the baby's nick name is cobra and why James has been sleeping on the couch for the past 6 months, haha.

P.S. And look at these cute cactus! They added a fun fiesta vibe to all of the table settings. All of the winners from the baby shower games got to pick a cactus and take one home. They were great decorations but also served as the perfect party favor.

THE PARTY PEOPLE //

I really have the best friends and family in the whole world. I want to thank my sisters for capturing all of these great photos and thank you for everyone who came and showered me with gifts. James and I are so excited and can't wait till this baby boy gets here. I've got about 7 more weeks left!

Monday, June 29, 2015

This past weekend I flew down to Camarillo, California for a girls trip with my mom and sisters. It was such a fun weekend full of shopping, yummy food and a visit to a beach house. We also got a lot of things done for my baby shower including: mailing the invites, printing out the decorations, picking out fabric for baby blankets, and getting registered at Target. My sister Alex, who is a talented photographer, also took some maternity photos for me. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at Leo Carrillo State Park. It ended up being a very windy day - like crazy windy, haha. But my sister used her magic and captured some beautiful pictures. Thanks Alex!